The MySQL Librarian Initiative

The MySQL Librarian is an initiative aimed to collect links to the best MySQL-related material on the web. I asked Giuseppe Maxia, MySQL Community Team Lead, more about the initiative.

MySQL Librarian is an open invitation to the community to contribute to the MySQL wealth of knowledge. MySQL users around the globe create an impressive amount of information. Blogs, presentations, videos are post online daily. A large part of this information is worth keeping for future reference. Keeping track of them is not easy. A system of benchmarks is not enough to capture the value of each piece in a way that it will be easily found when needed.

The Librarian is a tool for the community, where everyone can bring a piece of  information to build the global library. Like a real library, it  doesn’t matter how small is the addition from each individual. Not a single book makes a library, but the collective effort.

It’s important to note that the Librarian appeals to every user of
MySQL. No special skills are needed to belong to the community. No need to be a developer. No C++ experience is required. If you can spot an interesting article, a cute video,  and enlightening presentation, adding it to the Librarian is a matter of minutes.

From a couple of years MySQL is trying to adopt a more symbiotic approach to its community. The MySQL Librarian seems a step towards fostering knowledge sharing and the creation of infoproducts.

Free materials can help to create relationships, and one day MySQL might even start to sell low-priced info-products and services, turning users into casual buyers. Open Source funnel marketing is just that, indeed.

The MySQL Librarian initiative is very young, at the moment there are about 200 items, 130 of them are presentations, 30 videos plus pictures and books. Six months from now I’ll ping Giuseppe to know how it goes.

Ci sono al momento circa duecento elementi, di cui 130 sono
presentazioni, 30 articoli, 30 video e il resto e’ diviso fra foto e
libri.